China Policy Journal Volume 1, Number 1, Fall 2018 | Page 9

China Policy Journal
Table 1. Development of the Water-Pollutant Discharge-Fee System in China
Year Laws and Regulations Features
1978 Environment Protection Report The practice of Polluters Pays Principals
in China
1979 Environmental Protection
Conditional Law
1982 Temporary Regulation of Pollutant
Discharge Fee
Standard exceeding charge based on
concentration & quantity
Provide legal support for fee collection of
water pollutant discharge
1984 Water Pollution Prevention Law First independent law in terms of water
pollution control
1989 Environment Protection Law
(adjusted)
1993 The Inform of Fee Collection on
Wastewater Discharge
1996 Integrated Water Pollutant
Discharge Standard
2003 Pollutant Discharge Fee Collection
and Management Regulation
Pollution charge method revise and
pollutant spices enlarged
Water-pollution reduction work was
strengthened
Enhance and normalize the wastewater
fee collection work
System reform
2003 Ocean Environment Protection Law System coverage area was enlarged from
inland water to sea water
2014 The Adjustment of Pollutant
Discharge Fee Collection with
Related Issues & Pollutant
Discharge Fee Usage Management
Approach
System adjustment according to actual
need
inal water-pollutant discharge-fee system
did not reflect the principle that a
homogenous amount of contaminants
was charged equally: it only charged for
the highest contaminant amount, which
failed to meet the standard when the
firm discharged more than one kind of
pollutants in its wastewater. The fee per
ton was formulated differently for each
pollutant. The pollution-fee charge was
defined only in the standard-exceeding
amount, which in essence entailed that
any pollutant discharge lying within the
range of the national standard had been
6